Toward a PEC Use-Case Suite (Preliminary Draft)

Date Published: January 21, 2021
Comments Due: March 22, 2021 (public comment period is CLOSED)
Email Questions to: pec-suite@nist.gov

Announcement

Privacy-enhancing cryptography (PEC) refers to cryptography used to enhance privacy, beyond the traditional sense of data confidentiality. For example, it enables sophisticated interactions that obtain a useful output of the combined information of multiple entities, although without them sharing their inputs with one another. Representative PEC techniques include secure multi-party computation, zero-knowledge proofs and searchable encryption.

Because of the advanced technical features of PEC, this field has traditionally not been covered by standardization activities. However, the state of the art is becoming more pertinent and accessible. To tap into the potential of PEC, this preliminary draft presents a sketch idea toward creating a "PEC use-case suite." The goal of the write-up is to motivate initial feedback about the idea, which intends to connect PEC tools and representative use-cases where privacy is a central point.

The intended feedback should come not only from stakeholders knowledgeable of PEC tools, but also from those knowledgeable of privacy challenges in the realm of information technology. The subsequent development of a PEC use-case suite may serve as a facilitator and reference between these problems and solutions.

We encourage you to use our comment template when preparing and submitting your comments.

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